Farm: “I farm with my wife Margaret and three daughters Emma (14), Sarah (12) and Kate (10). I farm 195ac, all of which is owned except 40ac. One hundred acres are in tillage and the remaining 95 are in grass. I have a tillage and suckler enterprise.”

Tillage: “I have 15ac in winter oats, 23ac in winter barley and am waiting to sow 23ac of seed oats and 40ac of malting barley. The winter crops are up to date, but spring corn is a no-go at the moment with the weather.”

Sucklers: “I have 26 suckler cows, which I calve in November and December. I have Limousin and Hereford cows and changed from a Charolais bull to Angus last year. I finish the bulls at 16 months. At the moment, the heifers are out, but all other stock is in the shed.”

Contracting: “I do some contracting work too. This week I will be busy moving slurry from tank to tank. The contracting is getting tougher. Diesel prices are going up and sourcing labour is difficult. I have a girl in Leaving Cert working with me part-time, she’s a great help.”

Weather: “The weather is having a serious impact on tillage farmers. For every week that goes by without planting, the yield decreases. There are a lot of crops not sown yet, it’s very hard to see it get all done. I always say that you can manage bad prices, but you can’t manage bad weather. Everyone is fed up; hopefully the sun shines soon.”

Grain prices: “I’d hope that it’d go up to the €300/t mark. There could be a scarcity of grain later on, so that could drive prices up.”